


Crossed Histories

by VirginiasWolf



Category: Death in Paradise
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:47:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28275573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirginiasWolf/pseuds/VirginiasWolf
Summary: Richard spends another first night in the shack where he reflects on how much has changed in the years since he left, and how much hasn't.
Relationships: Camille Bordey/Richard Poole
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Crossed Histories

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel of sorts to "The Return". It takes place in the same timeline and on the same day, except now our beloved duo is about to go to sleep.

The moonlit Caribbean sea beckons from beyond the verandah with her obscure enchantments that Richard Poole still doesn't quite understand, but on this night, unlike the original first night he experienced nearly a decade earlier, he is glad to be here, lying in bed and soaking in her late night glow.

Trying to ease a newly forming leg cramp, he finally turns away from the sea view and lies flat on his back as he tries to remember what thoughts had run through his mind on that first night he had slept in this bed.

When something finally does loosen, he can't help but let out a loud laugh.

In response, a beautiful face framed by dark curls peers around the bathroom doorway. "Something is funny?"

Richard checks to make sure his girlfriend isn't holding anything that can be thrown before he makes his admission. "I was trying to remember what I was thinking the first night I slept here."

"And this is funny because?" Camille makes her way into the bedroom as she speaks and Richard finds himself having to pause to admire how the pink silk of her nightgown looks against her skin before he can continue.

"Even on that first night I was already thinking of you."

"I do not understand how that is possible."

"We had our first meeting that day and I umm…" Richard pauses suddenly, wondering just how awkward he will sound before deciding to forge forward. "I thought you were beautiful."

Camille freezes at the edge of the bed. "Wait, were beautiful?"

In the past Richard might have missed the cause of her irritation and they would have descended into a fight, but this time he immediately picks up on what has upset her and quickly corrects himself. "You are absolutely radiant my love, but you have to remember that on that night I knew nothing of the real you. All I knew was that I had encountered a beautiful stranger."

"Oh." Camille's body relaxes and she pulls the covers back on her side of the bed before turning to him with a tease. "So do you often develop an attraction to strange housekeepers?"

"No, and I'll have you know that I felt extremely guilty for lusting after a poor distressed island girl, but you were charming and...oh God, you're going to hit me if I continue, aren't you?"

Camille's face is a mask of innocence. "Not hard. But let me guess, I was a perfect damsel for you to sweep off her feet."

"Well, when you put it that way, it makes me sound like a pig." Richard braces himself for a slap that doesn't come before adding, "But for the record I assumed I would never see you again."

Camille hums softly before laying her head on his chest. "And now she is sleeping next to you in the same bed you first fantasized about her in."

Richard takes a moment to contemplate the woman nestled against him. In the time he has known her she has gone from being a beautiful stranger to becoming the one person he intends to spend his eternity being in love with, but she isn't the island girl he'd thought about on that first night. Camille is a force of nature; sometimes gentle, sometimes ferocious, but never meek and quiet as he had believed her to be after their first meeting. "No Camille, you're not her."

"Are you disappointed?" Camille twists to look up at him.

"Quite the opposite actually. I don't believe I could ever have been truly happy with the woman I thought you were, and she wouldn't have been happy with me." Suddenly a nagging doubt sets in. "You are happy with me, aren't you?"

"Yes. Why would you ask me that?"

Richard attempts an awkward shrug that is hindered by her body on top of his. "Because sometimes all of this feels like a dream."

Camille watches him for a moment, her face awash with concern, before asking, "Are you happy here with me on Saint Marie?"

This time Richard doesn't have to think before he responds. "Yes, I've grown to accept that my destiny is with you in the Caribbean."


End file.
